Texas Stop Killing Wild Burros!

Less than 300 wild burros remain but Texas Parks and Wildlife intends to kill these nationally protected burros to the "maximum extent possible". The national protections do not extend to this State-held land. What Texas is doing may be legal, but we think its an atrocity.

This horrid policy is carried out quietly, behind the scenes, with efforts to keep visitors to the Big Bend Ranch State Park from realizing wild burros are there and wild burros are being killed. We want the world to know how Texas chooses to kill their own living legacies of natural, cultural and historical heritage of their State, the region and America.

Only 5,800 wild burros are held in the protected areas managed by the BLM. Texas has their own small but vitally precious relic herd of wild burros, documented as laying claim to these lands as their ancestral home for hundreds of years. Officially, the Parks Department states that these wild donkeys harm the resource of the Park.

As evidence they provide ancient documents from 1974 and videos produced by the US China Lakes Naval Base where a 1981 court case revealed the base killed 648 wild burros illegally. In addition, Parks staff have stated on the record, that they needed to kill these wild burros to ensure that they could release restored "native" bighorn to the park.

The bighorn are a high profile species that are prized by big game hunters. Their restoration is heavily subsidized by private individuals who believe that the wild burro is an "enemy" of the bighorn. The hunting permits for the bighorn are sold in an auction format, with the highest recorded winning bid being $152,000.

Texas is killing wild burros to make way for hunting opportunities for wealthy hunters. The local community supports bighorn restoration, but not killing wild burros. Please help the community to stand up against these powerful forces that have refused to hear pleas to keep the wild burros, alive.

Letter to

Texas Parks & Wildlife DepartmentJohn Young

Texas Parks & Wildlife, Natural ResourcesDavid Riskind

State Parks Division DirectorBrent Leisure

and 4 others

GovernorRick Perry

GovernorRick Perry

Texas Wildlife Commission ChairmanT. Dan Friedkin

State Parks Division DirectorCarter Smith

I just signed the following petition addressed to: Texas Governor, Texas Wildlife Commission, Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept..

----------------Stop Killing Wild Burros in the Big Bend region of West Texas

Less than 300 wild burros remain but Texas Parks and Wildlife intends to kill these nationally protected burros to the "maximum extent possible". The national protections do not extend to this State-held land. What Texas is doing may be legal, but we think its an atrocity.

This horrid policy is carried out quietly, behind the scenes, with efforts to keep visitors to the Big Bend Ranch State Park from realizing wild burros are there and wild burros are being killed. We want the world to know how Texas chooses to kill their own living legacies of natural, cultural and historical heritage of their State, the region and America.

Only 5,800 wild burros are held in the protected areas managed by the BLM. Texas has their own small but vitally precious relic herd of wild burros, documented as laying claim to these lands as their ancestral home for hundreds of years. Officially, the Parks Department states that these wild donkeys harm the resource of the Park.

As evidence they provide ancient documents from 1974 and videos produced by the US China Lakes Naval Base where a 1981 court case revealed the base killed 648 wild burros illegally. In addition, Parks staff have stated on the record, that they needed to kill these wild burros to ensure that the Desert Bighorn Council would release restored "native" bighorn to the park.

The bighorn are a high profile species that are prized by big game hunters. Their restoration is heavily subsidized by private individuals who believe that the wild burro is an "enemy" of the bighorn. The hunting permits for the bighorn are sold in an auction format, with the highest recorded winning bid being $152,000.

Texas is killing wild burros to make way for hunting opportunities for wealthy hunters. The local community supports bighorn restoration, but not killing wild burros. We stand with the community to stand up against these powerful forces that have refused to hear pleas to keep the wild burros, alive.

Texas Parks and Wildlife does not have any real justification for killing these wild burros, you have labelled them as invasive. We call them precious, living symbols of our nations cultural, historical, and natural history. Stop killing wild burros!----------------